I heard recently, but not checked, that the Spring, despite being a Dacia, is actually made in China. The Ling Long tyres might confirm that.
What's made you not grumpy but not smile either today?
- Thread starter dave
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What's made you not grumpy but not smile either today?
Yeah! That's her story, "Oh! I thought it was my husband"A tale from a few years ago..
A guy had car trouble and got his knowledgeable friend to pop over and help sort it, the wife joined them, but stayed indoors
The Visitor lent some of his overalls to the guy and the investigation ensued
The knowledgeable one had returned to his car boot to grab more tools
The guy was laid half under the car, when the visiting other half came out to say a tray of tea and biscuits was waiting
As was customary, she gave the overalls a playful squeeze at the top of the legs,
Guy promptly attempted
to sit bolt-upright
Smacking his head in the process
Hearing the commotion the visiting expert reappeared from behind their car.. Red faces all round
They are indeed.. apparently they are looking to make them in Europe but all ones currently on sale are Chinese.
I can't quite escape the feeling that if a Chinese manufacturer had released it at the same price with it's fisher price materials/lack of power/limited range and none existent crash safety the motoring press would have savaged it.
Yes it's cheap but given you're getting less of everything that's not exactly rocket science.
I saw this last night....and was going to reply but I was in bed at 8... because yesterday I took my son for haircut and he had meltdown which was odd for him..so he's had 50% of a haircut (thankfully she managed to balance it up).
Then we went to Tesco to buy some food for the evening and he went grey and started shivering and was burning up..so shop abandoned all except for a Lego magazine obviously.
Discovered the Toyota boot first aid kit only contains a Calpol bottle of antihistamine rather than you know a Calpol bottle of Calpol so drove home spent the afternoon on the couch.
He didn't want any tea anyway having no appetite but I had an interesting concoction of various items scavenged from the fridge/freezer.
Got him to bed...I figured I'd be up every 4 hours once the Calpol wore off with him running a temperature so went straight to bed. Of course he slept through until 6am..woke up after 10 hours with no medication with no fever and is currently drawing transformers asking to go somewhere that has a crow and where he can do rubbings of coins at a castle.
I've used the Petronas product in the past - bought as part of the service "package" from S4p and the only thing I found using it was that the cam follower rattle, on first start up of the day, took very slightly longer to go away than when I was using my favorite Fuchs oil - both being the same viscosity rating. Other than that I've never seen this discolouration problem. If it was happening on a neglected engine - where oil change intervals had been neglected - I'd have guessed it was the detergent in the new oil dissolving deposits, obviously not the case here?
I think you're right. Becky does short shopping trips 95% of her running, probably averaging out at around 2,000 miles a year but sometimes less - but she still gets her oil and filter changed every year. Her body seems still to be in good condition although the rust bug is becoming a bit more obvious. Comprehensive front suspension rebuild a few years ago and all looking like new still. New clutch shortly after that, really only now nicely run in. Front calipers are very crusty with rust but that could be quite cheaply rectified. Some metal brake pipes will soon be needed, again cheap to do. The engine doesn't burn any oil but has quite a pronounced cam follower rattle on first start up - but that's likely to be after standing without running for anything from a couple of days to a week, so only to be expected. More worrying is that I fancy I can hear a very slight big end rattle when she's fully up to temperature if you give her a good rev standing still or, with the window down, if you make her pull hard with more than about 3,500 rpm. Mrs J can't hear it and I'm not entirely convinced it's big ends, could be piston slap, little ends, or just me worrying about a noise which has always been there - tellingly, I've been hearing it for quite some time, a couple of years perhaps, and it doesn't seem to be getting worse or louder. It's the only thing which worries me about her if I decide to have the rear axle replaced. I talked to Kenny last year - when he warned me that the axle condition had been mentioned on an advisory and he thought they'd probably fail it next year - which will be end of this month. His opinion was that it would cost around £600 to do it but they would tackle it on a time basis so cost would depend on how long it took them - ouch! He's done a number of them in the past, but, as these cars are becoming older and fewer of them are around and they're not worth much now, he's not done one in a while. Mostly he finds folk just scrap them when faced with a cost like this.
The electric option looks very attractive given the use Becky gets, but I think you're all right about this Dacia - looks "cute" though doesn't it? The more I think seriously about it the more it looses it's appeal. If my old body was in better condition it would be a no brainer. I'd be under there in a flash and probably have the whole job done in a weekend at a cost of little more than the cost of an IM axle. I'm definitely not up to it in the cold weather and not too confident that I would manage once it's warmer. Mrs J thinks I'm out of my mind to even consider doing it. So, if she fails, it's either a big bill to get Kenny and his merry men to take it on (and I'm entirely confident they'll do a first class job and not rip me off) or scrap the poor old dear and, probably, buy another Panda.
Knaresborough has tame crows and one that talks…there used to be someone that took in injured crows up your end, outside Hexham/Jedburgh
He has a very specific set of requirements the crow must follow us round a ruined castle while we make rubbings of various bits of a family crest that has been broken and been dispersed around the castle...and then finally the crow must lead us to a cache of shiny items.
I'm entirely aware of where I can get the component parts...I know of at least 6 castles if not more within easy driving distance (Prudhoe castle is about 3 miles...) I know which castles have family crests...but getting the exact sequence of events without a tame crow...and a ladder given the family crests are usually about 10ft up if not more is the trick.
Basically he wants to recreate an episode of Sarah and Duck...
Can't you respray a Parrot black and stick it on your shoulder.
Can't you respray a Parrot black and stick it on your shoulder.
Just spent several hours unsuccessfully trying to rescue my towbar electrics on Skoda Scout 4x4, chopping off more and more wire trying to find copper instead of black.
I suppose 160k and 18 years old nearly is hoping too much.
I suppose 160k and 18 years old nearly is hoping too much.
The Panda Nut
Nutty about Pandas Infected by Panda virus and OPD
I have to admit looking 12 months back and meeting an even worse wall of disgust and distaste on here. After further consideration I have pretty well ruled that one out. Its is very cheap compared to most other vehices so I suppose you get what you pay for. Ruby does about the same as Becky but is in really good nick and the axle is still like new. I reckon £600 would on the money for an axle change unless the retaining nuts are stuck. My tyre place undid my Panda 100 axle (and its only 6 nuts) and manhandled the axle in half an hour so 8 hours work 2men 4hrs a piece to change seems right. I would seriously check the front chassis legs rust trap behind the struts before starting. Daffo was definitely going off so would not have been worth it. Its just passed another MOT though. I think it needed new radiator supports having done more research so will probably go another 5 years at least. The big issue is when or if we will be forced to go battery power, and what will happen to fuel duty as they prtess us all to change.
The Panda Nut
Nutty about Pandas Infected by Panda virus and OPD
No I hope not. Mine are molly codledoil and filters always dome on time or early. Fiat Filters and quality oil. I hope another change will be hte end of this. Filters should be here Tuesday so it will be done immediately. The Quantum oil was £31 f or 5 litres so quite cheap. I always used it in the Golf and felt it was a quality oil. As its 100% synthetic it should be more than good enough for the Panda.
I used to buy quantum when I had access to TPS but had to stop when I was no longer in the trade as they require a business account for you to buy from them. Quantum, at that time was manufactured by Castrol but some years ago they changed manufacturer to my prefered brand - Fuchs - https://www.fuchs.com/uk/en/company...-LUBRICANTS-UK-for-all-new-QUANTUM-oil-range/ Which made me even more happy! I've been running our Becky on it (FUCHS) almost since we bought her and she seems very content!
Ditto about TPS, I should have kept my accounts going with all my trade outlets. One daughter has VWs and I have a Skoda, my Ford Dealer account company also does Fiat for me and another daughter plus other brands. Even my trade insurance would make sense as I run three cars and could have kept my trade plates.
TPS sold to me for a while after I retired when I produced my MIMI card. When I retired I negotiated a "retired member fee" which I payed for about 4 years. Unfortunately, apart from being able to buy from TPS on production of the card, I couldn't really see any other advantage so I cancelled my membership. It was a funny feeling doing so. All the time I was at the college, gaining membership of the IMI was much envied and I was very proud to progress to being a full member not long after starting full time work. However I have to say, very few employers were impressed by it, being more interested in where I'd worked and what experience and trade qualifications I had. The one exception being when I took up a position as a trainer, I think having MIMI after my name did impress them.Ditto about TPS, I should have kept my accounts going with all my trade outlets. One daughter has VWs and I have a Skoda, my Ford Dealer account company also does Fiat for me and another daughter plus other brands. Even my trade insurance would make sense as I run three cars and could have kept my trade plates.
I only got as far as a Student member of IMI and have never had to show my qualifications in all my working life, always being fairly local I was well known, or notorious, I am not sure which.
The Panda Nut
Nutty about Pandas Infected by Panda virus and OPD
Im pleased it gets your approval. Ive not tried Fuchs but if VW approve it cant be bad stuff. It was a while ago since the Golf went late 2010 I think then there was a Smart Cabrio, the Panda 100 and the two TA 4x4s. Doesnt time fly.
